Rams waive Dalton Keene

The Rams waived defensive tackle Dalton Keene, the team announced Thursday.

The Illinois State product signed with the Rams as an undrafted free agent earlier this week.

He finished third in the Missouri Valley Conference voting for defensive player of the year and was a second-team All-American.

Keene made 45 tackles, 13 tackles for loss, eight sacks and eight quarterback hurries in 2017. He finished his career at ISU ranked ninth in sacks (17.5), 11th in tackles for loss (33.0) and with 200 total tackles.

The Rams’ roster now stands at 89 players.

He’ll be facing another former NFL player in Austen Lane, a defensive end who was drafted in the fifth round by the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2010. He also played for the Detroit Lions and spent time with the Chicago Bears in a career that spanned from 2010-14. Lane, 30, is 4-0 as a professional fighter. The fight was announced during the broadcast of UFC 224 Saturday night in Brazil.

“I do not like imposing any club-specific rules. If somebody [on the Jets] takes a knee, that fine will be borne by the organization, by me, not the players,” Johnson said, via Newsday’s Bob Glauber. “I never want to put restrictions on the speech of our players. Do I prefer that they stand? Of course. But I understand if they felt the need to protest.

“There are some big, complicated issues that we’re all struggling with, and our players are on the front lines. I don’t want to come down on them like a ton of bricks, and I won’t. There will be no club fines or suspensions or any sort of repercussions. If the team gets fined, that’s just something I’ll have to bear.”

Johnson added that he believes the new rules will cause a backtrack in the progress that has been made over the last season.

“Even without those fines, this is going to be tough on the players, and I want a chance to speak with the coaches and other players to get feedback on this policy and to build on the good work and momentum that we have built up on these issues of social justice, on legislation, and all the things that we can do,” Johnson added. “I don’t think that this policy will interfere with that at all.